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George E. Miller
George E. Miller was a student at Shimer College during the early Seminary period, studying there from 1859 to 1860. He later became a physician in Hanover Township, Jo Daviess County, where he had grown up. Profiled *by "Millers of Jo Daviess County", ancestry.com *in Portrait and Biographical Album of Jo Daviess and Carroll Counties, pp. 465-466: *:DR. GEORGE E. MILLER. The subject of this sketch has a life-long interest in the welfare of Hanover and vicinity, for it was here he was born, Dec. 23, 1841, and here he has spent the greater part of his life. He is a son of one of the earliest pioneers of Jo Daviess County; his parents having been John and Elizabeth (Gray) Miller, who were natives of Ireland. They emigrated to America in their youth, were married in New York City, and came to this county in 1838. *:John Miller, soon after his arrival here, took up a Government claim on Sand Prairie, embracing 440 acres, upon which he settled, and when it came into market paid therefor the sum of $1.25 per acre. There was upon the land a log cabin, and a very little attempt had been made at cultivation, but for the most part it lay in its primitive condition. The father of our subject was a man of great persistence and energy, and here he abided until his death, which occurred July 20, 1887. He endured, in common with the people around him, the hardships and Window of life in a new settlement; but he never swerved from his first purpose of building up a homestead, and making for himself a place and name among his fellow-citizens. He held some of the local olfices in Hanover Township. and was a Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church. He was born Dec. 14, 1801; and, consequently, was at the time of his death approaching the eighty-sixth year of his age. He had. an extended acquaintance throughout this part of the county, and was foremost in inaugurating many of the enterprises calculated for the building up of the town and the elevation of society. He was a charter member of his church, and uniformly took an active interest in its advancement. Politically, he was in_ early manhood a Whig, voted for “Old Tippecanoe” in 1840, and in 1856 identified himself with the Republican party. The wife and mother died on the 16th of February, 1885. *:To the parents of our subject there was born a family of ten children, of whom the following survive: Mary J., Mrs. Campbell, is a widow, and a resident of Derinda Township; Joseph G. also lives in that township, and is now a widower; John Q. is a resident of Sioux County, Iowa; Martha 1)., Mrs. Dawson, lives in Hanover; George E., our subject, was the fifth in order of birth; Phebe E. is the wife of Benjamin Eadie, of Carroll County; William N. resides in Hanover Township. *:Our subject spent his boyhood and youth at the farm, and received his preliminary education in the district schools of Hanover Township. At the age of eighteen years he began attending Mt. Carroll Seminary, where he studied a year, and, during the vacations, employed himself in teaching a select school for the purpose of obtaining money to prosecute his studies. He began reading medicine when twenty-two years old, under the instruction of Dr. B. F. Fowler, of Galena, with whom he remained about four years—three years before he graduated and one year afterward. He entered the medical department of Michigan University at Ann Arbor, in the fall of 1865, where he remained a year, and in the fall of 1866 entered Rush Medical College at Chicago, Ill., from which he was graduated in January, 1867. Afterward he studied and practiced one year with Dr. Fowler. *:Dr. Miller entered upon the regular practice of his profession at Savanna, Ill., where he sojourned ten years. He was married June 4, 1874, to Miss Chloe 12., daughter of Thomas E. and Rachel (Harrison) Edgerton, of Hanover Township. Mrs. Miller was born in January, 1854, in Hanover Township, this county, and remained a member of the parental household until her marriage. Of this union there are five interesting children, namely: Alta P., John T., Willie H., Thurman E., and Joseph P. They occupy a pleasant home in the northeast part of the city, and Dr. Miller, both as a physician and surgeon has obtained an enviable reputation. He located in Hanover in 1883. He served as Coroner of Carroll County about two years, and at Savanna was a member of the School Board. He is a sound Republican politically. Both he and his estimable wife are members in good standing of the First Presbyterian Church. and are favorites both in Church and social circles. Category:Physicians